


Memento

by sanctuary_for_all



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Explaining the damn ring, Feelings, Fluff, Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-06
Updated: 2016-05-06
Packaged: 2018-06-06 16:47:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6762115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Len was wearing a new ring. (set between 1X12 and 1X13.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Memento

Len was wearing a new ring.

Mick knew he probably shouldn't have noticed as quick as he did, but ever since he'd come back he found himself watching Len when he knew no one else was looking.  When he was with the Time Council he'd let himself forget what Len looked like, and it had hit him harder than it should have when he'd seen his partner's face again. Shit like that was what got you in trouble.

But there was the ring. Gold-colored metal that he'd been with Len long enough to know was plated, with little diamond chips set in the top. It wasn't worth stealing, and even if it had been Len didn't usually wear pinkie rings. It didn't even seem like Sara's kind of thing, and while Kendra could maybe have something like that he didn't know why it would end up on Len's finger. Or why it looked oddly familiar—

And he'd already thought way the hell too much about this. "What's with the ring?"

Len looked up, a smirk on his face. "What, you don't remember?" He held it up to give Mick a closer look. "It was a shining moment for us, Mick. I'm heartbroken."

Mick's brow furrowed, confused for a moment, then memory kicked in. "That teacher they forced on us in juvie, the little prissy one who quit after a month. She was giving you shit about Lisa."

"Said it was a good thing I was in prison, because I was undoubtedly a terrible role model for my impressionable baby sister." His lips twisted into a sneer, but it disappeared as he looked back down at the ring. "She never did figure out who took it."

Mick remembered the look on Len's face, the way he'd struggled to keep it together. Seeing it, Mick had wanted to watch the woman burn. "And you kept it, for some reason. All these years."

"You set her desk on fire. I stole it in the confusion." Len's voice had softened, the same way it did when he was talking about Lisa, and something in Mick's chest shifted in a way it wasn't fucking supposed to. "It was our first job together. Of course I kept it."

Mick just stood there, clueless about what to say. He'd figured out Len had a soft heart five minutes after he'd seen him with Lisa the first time, but he hadn't ever liked to think about it. He'd always thought of himself as a monster, and people with soft hearts never wanted to stay with monsters. It had been safer when they were bad guys, because bad guys always found monsters useful.

But you didn't hold onto something for a couple of decades just because of someone you found useful.  

There was only silence for a couple of minutes, then Len looked up to meet Mick's eyes. "You have people, Mick," he said quietly, voice deadly serious. "Even when we've wanted to kill each other, you've always had people."

Something in Mick's chest had shifted again, and it felt like it was cutting off his air supply. "We're pretty shit at killing each other," he managed.

Len's lips curved upward into something that might have almost been a smile. "That we are."

**Author's Note:**

> Come check out my weekly posts and original short fiction on my [blog](http://jennifferwardell.blogspot.com) or say hi to me on [Tumblr](http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com)!


End file.
